Abstract submission regulations and instructions Regular abstract submission deadline 26 September 2018, 21:00hrs CEST (CEST = Central European Summer Time / Local Swiss time) Late-breaking abstract deadline 6 November 2018, 21:00hrs CET (CET = Central European Time / Local Swiss time) Submission methods and deadlines All abstracts for the ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress 2018 (ESMO I-O 2018), including preliminary versions of those intended for late-breaking abstract status, must be submitted by the deadline of 21:00hrs Central European Summer Time (local Swiss time) on Wednesday, 26 September 2018. The deadline for the submission of finalised late-breaking abstracts is 21:00hrs Central European Time (local Swiss time) on Tuesday, 6 November 2018. Abstract submission is free of charge and must be completed online only via the ESMO website. Abstracts submitted by e-mail, post or fax will NOT be accepted. Submission categories Biomarker development Clinical practice (including toxicities) Therapeutic development Cell therapy Miscellaneous Submission regulations 1. By submitting an abstract intended for presentation at the ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress 2018 (ESMO I-O 2018), the first author (= presenter) warrants that the material has neither been, nor will be, previously published in any publication in peer review setting or presented at a meeting of any other scientific organisation prior to ESMO I-O 2018. Abstracts containing updated data with respect to a previous presentation may, however, be submitted to ESMO I-O 2018. In this case, additional information must be given specifying clearly which new data will be presented, for example final analysis of primary endpoint(s) or intermediate statistical analysis. Authors must at the same time also supply information regarding the original presentation for identification and comparison purposes, indicating the name of the meeting, year and/or publication number. Violation of this policy will result in a rejection of the submitted abstract. Should any similarities to prior presentations or publications exist, these must be explained in a covering letter, citing the abstract submission number, title and first author, to the ESMO Programme Department by e-mail at programme@esmo.org. Except for exceptional circumstances, abstracts containing previously published material will be rejected. Encore abstracts will NOT be accepted unless previously presented at the ESMO 2018 Congress in Munich. In this case, abstracts may be re-presented by a co-author of the original ESMO 2018 presentation. Authors must supply information regarding the original ESMO 2018 presentation, indicating the name of the presenting author and original abstract publication number. Page 1 of 8
2. The first author (= presenter) may be, but does not need to be, an ESMO member; however, only ESMO members in good standing with the society may submit more than one abstract as first and presenting author. Non-ESMO members may submit and present one abstract only as first and presenting author. New applications for ESMO membership must be completed online by 12 September 2018 via http://www.esmo.org/membership/join-esmo in order to qualify for membership benefits. 3. With the submission of an abstract, and on behalf of him/herself and all co-authors, the first author (= presenter) undertakes to: 1. Release full copyright to ESMO and give full permission for the abstract, if accepted, to be published in the ESMO I-O 2018 Abstract book in printed and/or electronic format, as well as published online on the ESMO and Annals of Oncology websites. 2. Warrant that he/she is an investigator with a substantial involvement in the study presented in the abstract. 3. Accept responsibility for the accuracy and confidentiality (see corresponding paragraph) of the submitted abstract. 4. Confirm that all authors are aware of, and agree to, the content of the abstract and support the data therein; furthermore the first author will be responsible for obtaining, and, upon request, showing proof that all authors have given their permission for the submission of the abstract and content therein as well as for the potential inclusion of the abstract in the official ESMO I-O 2018 Press programme. 5. Make all reasonable efforts to ensure the anonymity of any patient discussed in the abstracts. 6. Be the contact person for all correspondence concerning the abstract and to keep co-authors duly informed about its status. 7. Present his/her abstract in the official ESMO I-O 2018 programme if it is selected for presentation as Proffered Paper (oral presentation), Mini Oral or Poster. The first author may nominate a co-author to present an abstract in his/her place provided that the name of the replacement is submitted by e-mail to the ESMO Programme Department programme@esmo.org within forty-eight (48) hours of outcome notification. Should a presenting author have two abstracts accepted for oral presentation in the same session, the ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee reserves the right to require a co-author to present one of the two. 8. Certify that the study reported in the abstract will not be presented as such during the ESMO I-O 2018 at any industryrelated Industry Satellite Symposia prior to its presentation during the official ESMO I-O 2018 programme. 9. Indicate whether he/she agrees to participate in the official ESMO Press programme if the abstract is selected for coverage by ESMO and guarantee he/she is not subject to any restrictions by the institute he/she belongs to or by the scientific journals he/she may have submitted his/her research to. 10. The first author must further confirm his/her presence at the official ESMO Press Conference if selected; however, he/she may nominate a co-author to participate in the ESMO Press programme in his/her place provided that the replacement presenter is also a listed co-author independent of the sponsor who has also made a substantive contribution to the work. The name of the replacement must be submitted by E-mail to the ESMO Press Office (pressoffice@esmo.org) within forty-eight (48) hours of Press programme invitation acceptance and must confirm their attendance at the ESMO Press Conference. 11. Declare the name of the legal entity responsible for the governance, coordination and running of the study. 12. Declare how the study detailed in the abstract was funded, for example by a pharmaceutical, biotech or other commercial company or by a Foundation or academic group, and to name the organisation(s) funding the study. 13. Ensure that all authors identify any financial interest in products or processes involved in their research. This includes stock ownership, membership on an advisory board or board of directors, corporate-sponsored research, or other substantive relationships such as employment with a pharmaceutical company. Should no valid disclosure statement be provided at submission, or in the case of statements exceeding the regulation length not be advised by the submission Page 2 of 8
date to the ESMO Programme Department (programme@esmo.org), the author(s) in question may, at the discretion of the ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee be removed from the author string without further recourse to the authors. 14. Guarantee the scientific independence of the author or principle investigator (whichever is going to be the corresponding or presenting author) when presenting his/her data, and confirm that he/she has full control over the text of the submitted abstract, subsequent presentation (slides or poster) and content of the press release prepared by ESMO (if part of the official ESMO Press programme), and that he/she has not been influenced by any third party, including the sponsor of the study. 15. Indicate where applicable the number of the trial protocol (NIH or European equivalent) and the release date (when it was obtained). 16. Ensure that for all studies involving human or animal subjects, permission has been obtained from the relevant regulatory authority and that properly informed consent, where appropriate, has been given. 17. Indicate whether the abstract is submitted in association with an application for a travel grant. 18. Acknowledge any editorial assistance in the writing of the abstract that was provided by a third party, providing the name of the writer and the company who provided this service. 4. Withdrawal of abstracts If the first author wishes to withdraw his/her abstract from ESMO I-O 2018 after outcome notifications have been made available, he/she must submit a written request within forty-eight (48) hours to programme@esmo.org. Any abstract withdrawal requests made after forty-eight (48) hours cannot be assured of removal from the ESMO I-O 2018 Abstract Book. 5. Correction of published abstracts Corrections to accepted abstracts will be possible if advised in writing to the ESMO Programme Department (programme@esmo.org) within forty-eight (48) hours of outcome notification. After this time, amendments to the abstract cannot be guaranteed and once the abstract has been published, no corrigenda will be considered unless the data published in the original abstract is proved to have a relevant and negative impact on the treatment of patients and/or the future of any related research. 6. No-show policy The abstract's first and presenting author who, without notice, is absent during the session when his/her abstract is presented will be barred from having abstracts accepted for the following ESMO I-O Congress. Submission instructions Each section of the online abstract submission system must be completed. Authors failing to give all information required in the online submission system will not have their abstract considered by the ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee. Once each step is completed, the author must go to the Preview and Finish section and click Finish Submission in order to complete the process. Without clicking this option, the abstract will not be considered as submitted and will not be forwarded to the ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee for consideration. Regular abstracts should be structured in such a way as to include the following four (4) sections: - Background: An introductory sentence indicating the rationale of the study - Methods: A brief description of pertinent methodological procedures - Results: A summary of the results of the research - Conclusions: A statement of the main conclusions The title of the abstract should include significant words that reflect the content of the abstract but not refer to the study results or conclusions. The ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee reserves the right to correct the title format without further recourse to the authors. Commercial names may not be used in the title of the abstract. Compounds should be mentioned with the generic name in lower case. Commercial names are admitted in the text, with the symbol, and if in brackets following the generic Page 3 of 8
name, i.e. generic (Commercial ). The ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee reserves the right to substitute commercial names with generic names where necessary without further recourse to the authors. The name(s) of the legal entity/entities responsible for the governance, coordination and running of the study detailed in the abstract, and the name(s) of the organisation(s) providing funding must be provided. This information will be published with the abstract. Names of cooperative study groups should appear in the title, as they will not be reported in the author index. Abbreviations may be used in the title and text of abstracts if they are defined. Terms must be spelt out in full at its first mention and followed with the abbreviation in parentheses. Particular care should be taken to identify complex chemotherapeutic regimens. The character limit for all submitted abstracts is set at 2,000 excluding spaces. This limit includes characters entered in the title, abstract body and table fields (default of 225 characters per table) but not the author names and institutions. Illustrations and graphs are not permitted. One brief and clear table is accepted. More than one table may not be submitted under the guise of Table 1.1, 1.2 etc. The maximum number of authors allowed per abstract is limited to twenty (20). Mailing addresses, academic degrees and professional positions such as Medical Director, CEO, CMO etc. must NOT be mentioned. The names of all listed authors will be published in the order provided during submission. Changes may be requested within forty-eight (48) hours of outcome notification to programme@esmo.org. Any requests for changes to the author string made after forty-eight (48) hours cannot be guaranteed inclusion in the ESMO I-O 2018 Abstract Book or the online programme. Authors must select the appropriate abstract submission category, however, the ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee reserves the right to re-categorise abstracts without further recourse to the authors. Authors must select their preferred choice of presentation: Proffered Paper, Mini Oral or Poster; however, the decision of the ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee will be final. Each abstract must be accompanied by a minimum of one and maximum of four keywords. The ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee reserves the right to assign different keywords without further recourse to the authors. The use of good English and proof-reading is essential. Once the abstract is submitted, online changes, corrections or rewording will not be possible. The ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee reserves the right to reject abstracts which are presented in poor English or to request an immediate revision by the first author. Supplementary data such as manuscripts will not be accepted or forwarded to the ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee. Abstracts on case reports will be rejected. Presentation and publication of abstracts accepted for the ESMO I-O 2018 Presenters may request an outcome based on the following options. The ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee reserves the right to decide which of these session formats will be scheduled during the Congress. Proffered Paper Oral presentations by authors presenting original data of superior quality, followed by expert discussion and perspectives. Mini Oral Short presentation by authors with comment and interactive audience discussion led by an invited expert. Poster Display sessions for review, discussion and questions. Presenting authors must be available for Q&A for one hour to represent their work. All accepted abstracts will be published in the ESMO I-O 2018 Abstract Book, a supplement to the official ESMO journal Annals of Oncology. Page 4 of 8
Detailed instructions for the preparation of visual presentations and posters will be made available on the ESMO website in November 2018 along with scheduling notices. Publication schedule for accepted abstracts 1. Abstracts accepted for presentation at ESMO I-O 2018 as Proffered Paper (oral presentation), Mini Oral and Poster will be published online on the ESMO website at 12:00 CET on Monday, 10 December 2018. 2. Late-breaking abstracts will be made public at the start of the official Congress session during which they are presented. 3. The Publication schedule of abstracts and Late-breaking abstracts selected for inclusion in the ESMO Press programme, will be available 10 days before the Congress. Abstracts accepted as: Proffered Paper (suffix O ) Mini Oral (suffix MO ) Poster (suffix P ) Monday, 10 December 2018 12:00 Central European Time (CET) (local Swiss time) Late-breaking abstracts (prefix LBA ) At the start of the official Congress session during which they are presented. Abstracts selected for official ESMO Press programme (additional suffix _PR ) ESMO Press programme publication schedule will be available 10 days before the Congress Embargo Policy Data and information included in accepted abstracts is under embargo until the relevant embargo release date cited in the schedule above. Data and information beyond what is included in the accepted abstracts (and in all the ones selected for the official Press programme), e.g. full data sets, may only be made public at the start of the official programme session during which the study is presented. Late-breaking abstracts Late-breaking abstracts may be submitted for high quality, new research findings with implications for clinical practice or understanding of disease processes. The work must not have been previously published in any publication in a peer review setting or presented at a meeting of any other scientific organisation prior to ESMO I-O 2018. Only abstracts for which no conclusive data are available at the time of the abstract submission deadline of 26 September 2018 will be considered for late-breaking status. The final late-breaking abstract deadline of 6 November 2018 is under no circumstances to be considered as an extension of the general submission deadline. Late-breaking abstract submission instructions and review process A preliminary abstract indicating the data expected to be available by the late-breaking abstract deadline must be submitted online by 26 September 2018 and the intent to submit a late-breaking abstract check-box must be ticked. The abstract must include the title, first author (with full contact details), objectives, rationale, methodology and anticipated data. Please note that the abstract length must not exceed the standard abstract length of 2,000 characters, excluding spaces. (Please see details in the general abstract submission instructions and regulations). Page 5 of 8
The ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee will review all abstracts indicated as late-breaking and first authors will be advised whether the study has been identified as a potential late-breaking abstract. Authors receiving a positive outcome of this first review will be required to submit the entire abstract including author string, final results and conclusions plus any table (if applicable) online by the late-breaking abstract deadline 6 November 2018. All late-breaking abstract submissions must follow the standard submission regulations and instructions as outlined above. The ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee will re-consider the final abstract to determine whether it will be accepted as a late-breaking abstract for ESMO I-O 2018. A decision will be made between the following three options: - Accepted for Oral presentation: Oral presentation during a Proffered Paper session - Accepted for Mini Oral: Oral presentation during a Mini Oral session - Rejected: Late-breaking submitted abstracts that do not meet the criteria for Proffered Paper or Mini Oral presentation will not be accepted and will not be published The presenters of accepted late-breaking abstracts will receive notification and further instructions by mid-november 2018. Note: If a preliminary abstract marked for late-breaking submission is not updated by the late-breaking abstract deadline, the entire abstract will be automatically rejected. Accepted late-breaking abstracts will be published online only in the ESMO I-O 2018 Abstract Book, a supplement to the official ESMO journal Annals of Oncology. Trial in progress abstracts Trial in Progress (TiP) abstracts in all phases of clinical research (phases I to III) may be submitted to ESMO I-O 2018. It is expected that abstracts submitted as Trial in Progress are ongoing trials that have not reached any protocol-specified endpoints for analysis and consequently will only require the completion of two (2) sections: Background Trial design Notes: Recruitment must have already begun or have been completed by the abstract submission deadline of 26 September 2018 Abstracts including results or preliminary data will be rejected Encore TiP abstracts will NOT be accepted Trial in Progress abstracts will NOT be considered for Proffered Paper (oral) presentation Abstracts will be reviewed by the ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee and considered on the merits of the scientific and clinical rationale of the trial. Confidentiality policy Abstracts submitted to ESMO I-O 2018 are considered confidential by ESMO, the author, co-authors and research sponsors until publicly released in connection with the ESMO I-O 2018 Congress. Prior to public release, the author, co-authors, research sponsors, journalists and others may not: Make the information public or provide it to others who can make it public (e.g. press) Publish or present the information or provide it to others who can make it public Use the information for trading purposes or provide it to others who can use it for trading purposes ESMO reserves the right to provide its press releases a few days before public release to a selected list of journalists who have previously agreed in writing to respect the ESMO embargo policy. If details or relevant information from the abstract or additional study data are disclosed in advance of public release in connection with ESMO I-O 2018, the abstract will no longer be eligible for inclusion in the ESMO I-O 2018 programme and/or will be subject to removal. Page 6 of 8
Confidentiality policy exceptions According to the Confidentiality policy, data and other information in a research abstract is confidential until public release in connection with the ESMO I-O 2018 Congress. When a publicly traded company is required to disclose data or other information from a confidential abstract in advance of the public release to satisfy requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a corresponding body in another country, the abstract is still eligible for inclusion in the ESMO I-O 2018 Programme provided that the company submits to ESMO Programme Department (programme@esmo.org) in advance of the release written notification of the requirement to issue information in accordance to SEC regulations. In the interest of effective peer-reviewed presentation of data at the ESMO I-O 2018, and particularly if the abstract has been tentatively included in the official ESMO I-O 2018 Press programme, the company is required to get in contact with the ESMO Press Office (pressoffice@esmo.org) in advance of the release to notify that a press release regarding an abstract included in the official ESMO I-O 2018 Press programme will have to be issued in accordance to SEC regulations. ESMO recommends that the company s press release adheres to the Qualitative Sample Press Release (provided by the ESMO Press Office) and: 1. Summarizes data cited in the abstract in a qualitative way rather than providing specific quantitative information, including exact figures on the study 2. Avoids interpretations about the implications of the data for clinical practice 3. Notes that full data has been submitted for presentation at the ESMO I-O 2018 The ESMO Press Office will review the company s press release to ensure it adheres to the Qualitative Sample Press Release and evaluate if the abstract can still be included in the official ESMO Press programme. If the press release includes significantly more information than ESMO s recommendations, the abstract s placement in the ESMO I-O 2018 is subject to change and can be withdrawn from the official ESMO Press programme. Copyright ESMO holds copyright of all abstracts accepted for the ESMO I-O 2018 and therefore abstracts cannot be made public prior to official publication. ESMO copyright is lifted only if the abstract is not accepted for inclusion in the official ESMO I-O 2018 programme and/or publication in the Congress Abstract Book. The submission of abstracts accepted for ESMO I-O 2018 to subsequent Conference, organised either by ESMO or third-parties, requires the permission of ESMO as copyright holder. Requests must be addressed to programme@esmo.org Commercial data mining of ESMO I-O 2018 published abstracts requires the permission of ESMO and approval must be sought before inception of the project. Queries should be addressed to programme@esmo.org Travel grants A restricted number of travel grants to ESMO I-O 2018 are available, upon application, to first author (= presenter) of candidates under the age of 40 who submit abstracts considered deserving of recognition. Selection will be made by the ESMO I-O 2018 Scientific Committee on a competitive basis from among the accepted abstracts. To apply for a travel grant, the following documents must be received by the ESMO Registration Services Unit on or before 26 September 2018: 1. A letter of introduction by the applicant. Please include the following general information: How relevant are the topics presented during this Congress to your current practice and research? Have you attended any event on a similar topic in the last 3 years? Page 7 of 8
How do you believe your attendance at this Congress will help you improve your knowledge in the field and your professional development? How do you consider that the findings published in your abstract make a relevant contribution to the topics presented during this Congress? Have you recently been awarded an ESMO travel grant? If yes, for which event? 2. A copy of the submitted abstract (the applicant must be the first author and presenter) 3. A readable photocopy of either identity card or passport 4. A short curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages). Documentation must be sent by E-mail to travelgrants@esmo.org The ESMO Registration Services Unit will provide the recipients with a subsidised travel ticket, subsidised accommodation and Congress registration. Travel grant recipients must submit a report detailing the benefits of participating in ESMO I-O 2018 by 9 January 2019. Incomplete applications will NOT be considered. Page 8 of 8